Strike to put brakes on bus services

There will be delays for thousands of commuters today when public bus drivers in Townsville, in north Queensland, stage a 24-hour strike over an ongoing pay dispute.

Education Queensland has warned that the strike by Sunbus Townsville, Hermit Park and Magnetic Island drivers will also affect some school buses.

Deb Pearson from the North Queensland Transport Workers Union says drivers have been trying to reach an agreement on improved pay and conditions for more than a year.

"The offer that's on the table isn't meeting the drivers' needs at the moment," she said.

"Some of the examples of that is, some of the allowances that the drivers have fought for over the last 10 years that have been acknowledged by the company and now the company wants to just write those allowances off because they're not contained in the legislation."

Michelle Duggan from the Australian Workers Union says drivers are unhappy after being rejected a pay rise for working late nights.

"As part of the previous awards that existed, there were a number of allowances such as a 'night allowance' that was paid to drivers who worked after 8:00pm as part of working those hours. The company is in a position that they want to transition that allowance out," she said.

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